Ludus
by makesometime
Summary: Nowhere in the recruits' brief did it mention combat training with Nathaniel Taylor himself, because it wasn't strictly meant to happen. But the damn man couldn't help himself. Pre-series ficlet.


A/N: Pre-series ficlet, inspired in large part by chapter 3 of Inu-midoriko's marvellous fic Not So Fragile on here. (Go read! It's fantastic.)

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><p>"Who's next?"<p>

Alicia Washington was about to enter the main barracks building when she heard the familiar voice call out. She changed her course in an instant, starting up steps leading to the platform overlooking the base's training ground.

Nathaniel Taylor had this area built to his own very exacting specifications. It was designed to resemble a Roman gladiator school, Terra Nova's very own ludus. High walls surrounded a dirt-floored arena open to the bright blue sky. The viewing platform she now stood on was several feet above the heads of the soldiers, creating a shaded area underneath for those who needed to rest.

Alicia let her eyes adjust to the bright sunlight and then focused on the source of the voice beneath her. She sighed at what she saw.

He was doing it again.

Every time a new pilgrimage came through, so did a new set of potential recruits. It took a few weeks to go through the applicants but eventually they had a core set of men and women who would go on to make the colony proud. Training was a gruelling few months, a program drawn up by the brass back in the 22nd century and adapted by herself and Nathaniel after the demands of the environment had been properly assessed.

Nowhere in the recruits' brief did it mention combat training with Nathaniel Taylor himself, because it wasn't strictly meant to happen. But the damn man couldn't help himself.

She counted ten recruits collapsed against the walls with rags pressed to their mouths, foreheads or cheeks; a couple more were sat on the ground with ice packs applied to their joints. She spotted one of the soldiers she'd put on her personal fast-track program sitting on a bench with his wrist cradled in his hand.

She wished Nathaniel could go at least one year without trying to prove all her choices incorrect.

The remaining eight or so recruits stood around the edges of the arena, faces showing increasing trepidation at the thought of what awaited them. One of them, a kid named Reynolds who had impressed her enough to be the first of this pilgrimage on her fast-track list, rolled his shoulders and took a step forward, coming into preparatory stance with a reasonably confident air.

Alicia watched as he sparred with his new CO, putting up a hell of a fight. She grinned, satisfied.

As Reynolds settled into the fight she settled also, resting her forearms on the platform's railing. She watched as the pair circled each other, trading blows alternately but neither making any significant contact.

In fact looking at Nathaniel properly for the first time she noticed he barely showed any signs of an extended period of fighting at all. Sure, he had a few marks blooming red on his bare arms and a split in his lower lip (whoever landed that blow would go down in legend in the barracks) but was otherwise unharmed. He didn't even have much evidence of the fine dusty floor on his clothing, indicating no one had managed to fully subdue him for the entire session. The marks that were there suggested only moves that would incapacitate or restrain his opponent.

The harsh sunshine made the arena a hot place to be - its design trapped heat even on cooler days. All of the soldiers present had sweated profusely, Nathaniel included. But whereas it made the recruits look overworked and exhausted, it made him look even more impressive, adding to his air of a mighty warrior undefeated. Magnificent, for want of a better word.

Alicia let this thought roll around in her head for a while until a collective ripple of laughter from below broke her out of her thoughts. She realised then that she had been staring - probably quite captively - at her commanding officer long enough for him to go through the rest of his opponents without her even realising.

She cleared her throat and looked away, tamping down the embarrassment she felt using the knowledge that no one could have seen her in her secluded spot.

Laughing at herself for lack of any other reaction, she looked down to immediately meet the eyes of Nathaniel Taylor and nearly cursed audibly, restricting it to her head at the last second. She knew, just _knew_ that he was aware she'd been watching for some time, the man could read her like no other. Whether he had any idea of her less-than-pure thought process while doing so was up for debate, but she found it safer for her mental health to assume not.

"You gonna show them how it's done Wash?" He called up to her, resulting in the redirection of everyone in the arena's gaze up to her.

Alicia chuckled. "I think I'll pass, sir."

"Come on." He urged. "Scared?"

"Not at all - just don't want to hurt you, sir." She shot back and they both laughed as hoots and whistles sounded from the weary recruits.

"That's enough for today." He announced, and the relief from the retreating bodies was almost palpable.

Nathaniel made sure everyone had made their way to the locker room before he turned back to her, unwinding the strapping from his hands slowly. "Thoughts?"

"It would be really excellent if just once you didn't maim half the new recruits before they even start active duty." She said with a grin, following up with a delayed, "Sir."

"Just having a little fun Wash, you know that."

"Yeah, tell that to the hospital when they've got sprains coming our of their ears."

He just laughed at this and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes - it wouldn't be him that the head of the medical department would come complaining to.

"Sure you don't want to spar? How do I know you're not getting rusty?"

"You'll just have to trust me on that one." She smiled. "Another time though, when I'm not late for a meeting with the requisitions officer."

"Well why didn't you say so earlier? Not someone you want to get on the wrong side of." He said, as if he ever had to fear that happening. "Don't let me stop you."

"Yes sir." She said, starting for the stairs. When she reached the top step she chanced a look back and saw him readying to head home and clean up… she shook her head at the mental images that followed that thought. Where was her head today? She never normally had so much trouble concentrating.

Blaming it on the heat and exposure to the sun (anything else was a little too uncomfortable for her to consider right now) she gratefully stepped back into the air-conditioned base and allowed the cooler confines to calm both her body and her thoughts. She felt her apparently now flighty military persona fall back into place once out of sight of her major distraction and glared at the first serviceman to get in her way. Suddenly feeling much better when he scurried away with a squeak, Alicia headed to her meeting with a clear - if not entirely virtuous - mind.


End file.
